Recently, the need for performing various processing such as separation, extraction, inspection or measurement of target substances such as organisms or biopolymers of bacteria or the like (for example, aqueous dissolved bacteria such as O-157, cryptolipolysium, salmonella or the like, genetic materials such as DNA) is increasing.
For the purpose thereof, it is necessary to perform various processing after having cultured the bacteria, or in the case of genetic materials or the like, after having increased the concentration of the target substance by performing amplification.
The target substance such as bacteria or genetic materials is naturally obtained with a small amount thereof suspended in a large volume (for example, several liters) of liquid. In order to perform culture or amplification for this target substance, it is necessary to extract or separate the target substance from the suspension.
Therefore, separation and extraction has been heretofore performed by passing a large volume of suspension containing the target substance suspended therein through a filter. Normally, however, many impurities are contained other than the target substance in the suspension. In the case of a membrane filter or the like, these are likely to cause clogging due to the impurity and fouling. Hence this has the problem in that it is difficult or it requires time and labor to separate the target substance from a large volume of suspension.
Moreover, considering a case where a substance such as bacteria that affect organisms such as humans is handled, there is a demand for an apparatus which can automatically perform processing without requiring human intervention, which makes it possible to replace a part coming in contact with the suspension, and which does not require cleaning and can be used efficiently and reliably.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, which can perform concentration of a large volume of liquid efficiently, quickly and reliably.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, wherein concentration, separation or extraction processing is not affected by the existence of impurities.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, wherein the part coming in contact with the suspension can have a construction such that a container or a disposable tip can be replaced, and a simple mechanism is used to thereby make it low-priced and easy to handle, without requiring cleaning.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, which are suitable for automated processing and consistent processing without requiring human intervention.
It is a fifth object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, suitable for handling microorganisms such as bacteria and biopolymers such as DNA substances. More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a concentration device using magnetic particles and a concentration method using magnetic particles, suitable for amplification by a PCR method for genetic materials such as DNA.